Good-bye Massey

It was chilly but not horrible Thursday morning.

Everyone was put to work.

The chickens were thankful for fresh bedding.

Luke found a place that would buy the Massey for parts.

So they loaded the gooseneck

with all the parts and pieces.

The Massey was pulled out of the shed and over to the trailer.

Someone suggested seeing if the skidsteer could load it.

That didn't work so well!

So back to the original plan 

of just pushing it up on the gooseneck.

They got everything loaded.

We got it all tied down 

and ready for Paul to take off early Friday morning with it.

How on earth could I forget to take pictures of the whole load ready to go?

The Snow Arrived

It is here.

I'm guessing we only got 4".

But isn't it cool what God can paint with snow and wind!

The snow inside the closed shed doors

suggested that the winds were pretty strong.

The girls and Jack had to feed silage and do the shoveling this morning.

I'm sure they were glad that it wasn't bitterly cold!

Snow Prep

They predicted lots and lots of snow.

So we did bunches of outside work to get ready on Tuesday.

Jack cleaned the Flex.

Molly power washed several things.

Ben made windbreaks

and moved and cleaned up all of the equipment.

Let it snow!

The Massey and Hauling Cattle

Well, it finally happened.

The Massey is done for.

We've had it a long time.

Wednesday morning was the day to haul four cull cows to market.

It was time for Beatrice, Audra, Dilly, and Katie Elder to go.

Thankfully, they walked right in and were off.

Elsie is 21!

Amazing!

Elsie turned 21 Saturday!

Elsie, Hannah, and Jack ran up to Resto Espresso for a morning coffee treat.

How did so many of our children

learn to like coffee at such young ages?

The boys headed out to bale the last of the corn stalks shortly after 1:00.

After 47 bales things came to a screeching halt.

The baler was brought home to be torn into.

A friend's baler was used to finish off the field.

Another 10:00 bowl of ice cream for supper

before calling it a day.

More Bales

Just because I love pictures

of fields full of bales.

And if there is a big ol' red barn in the background

it's even better.

Corn Stalk Bales

This naughty girl slipped out of the gate yesterday morning.

Thankfully she agreed to very calmly walking back in.

Yesterday was the day to finally start corn stalk bales.

It was dry enough after the rain a few days earlier

and needed to be done before the coming snow and hard freeze.

Ben got some raked and then started baling.

When Paul got home from work he dressed up warmly

and took over raking while Ben baled.

For several hours Steve chopped,

Paul raked,

Ben baled,

Luke chisel plowed our fields,

Elsie and Hannah kept things under control at home,

and I rode with Ben.

Ben and I drove out of the field at 10:35 p.m.

after making 268 bales.

Luke got 98% of the plowing done
Tuesday night
and then blew a hydraulic hose.

There was a fresh dusting of snow on everything this morning.

Fixing the hose was first on the morning's agenda
so Luke was at Car Quest at 7:00
so he could work on it before going to work.

There's just something about a field full of bales
that makes my heart happy.

We got half of the bales.
Jack drove the 7400 to the field with Molly riding along.
We also had another tractor and our gooseneck out there.
And both skid steers.

All of our bales are home and most of them are lined up.
We called it quits at 6:30 tonight.
Except for Luke being at the fire department and Elsie studying,
everyone is relaxing for a bit before an early bedtime!